Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Mathematical fallacy. In mathematics, certain kinds of mistaken proof are often exhibited, and sometimes collected, as illustrations of a concept called mathematical fallacy. There is a distinction between a simple mistake and a mathematical fallacy in a proof, in that a mistake in a proof leads to an invalid proof while in the best-known ...
Mathematical proof was revolutionized by Euclid (300 BCE), who introduced the axiomatic method still in use today. It starts with undefined terms and axioms, propositions concerning the undefined terms which are assumed to be self-evidently true (from Greek "axios", something worthy).
Fermat's little theorem. In number theory, Fermat's little theorem states that if p is a prime number, then for any integer a, the number ap − a is an integer multiple of p. In the notation of modular arithmetic, this is expressed as. For example, if a = 2 and p = 7, then 27 = 128, and 128 − 2 = 126 = 7 × 18 is an integer multiple of 7 .
If 2 k + 1 is prime and k > 0, then k itself must be a power of 2, so 2 k + 1 is a Fermat number; such primes are called Fermat primes. As of 2023 [update] , the only known Fermat primes are F 0 = 3 , F 1 = 5 , F 2 = 17 , F 3 = 257 , and F 4 = 65537 (sequence A019434 in the OEIS ).
Proof: 2 p+1 ≡ 2 (mod q), so 2 1 / 2 (p+1) is a square root of 2 mod q. By quadratic reciprocity, every prime modulus in which the number 2 has a square root is congruent to ±1 (mod 8). A Mersenne prime cannot be a Wieferich prime. Proof: We show if p = 2 m − 1 is a Mersenne prime, then the congruence 2 p−1 ≡ 1 (mod p 2) does not hold.
G. H. Hardy, A Mathematician's Apology (1940) He [Russell] said once, after some contact with the Chinese language, that he was horrified to find that the language of Principia Mathematica was an Indo-European one. John Edensor Littlewood, Littlewood's Miscellany (1986) The Principia Mathematica (often abbreviated PM) is a three-volume work on the foundations of mathematics written by ...
The interesting number paradox is a humorous paradox which arises from the attempt to classify every natural number as either "interesting" or "uninteresting". The paradox states that every natural number is interesting. [1] The "proof" is by contradiction: if there exists a non-empty set of uninteresting natural numbers, there would be a ...
Irrationality of the square root of 2. The classic proof that the square root of 2 is irrational is a refutation by contradiction. Indeed, we set out to prove the negation ¬ ∃ a, b ∈ . a/b = √ 2 by assuming that there exist natural numbers a and b whose ratio is the square root of two, and derive a contradiction. Proof by infinite descent